Jacob struggles with God In my previous post we discussed how God changes the names of his people when he wants to use them. Today we will look at another name change in scripture. In Genesis 32, we find Jacob preparing to meet his brother Esau and he spends the night alone in prayer. After Jacob wrestles and struggles with God through the night he tells Jacob, “Your name will...

Names in scripture are very important. Parents selected names based on what was happening at the time or what they hoped for a child. We still see this today as we scour the baby name book for meanings so we can pick just the right name for our baby. Even in our culture, changing your name is a major decision and usually occurs for a reason. In Genesis 17 we...

Genesis 16 contains an intriguing story in scripture. God had just told Abram that he would have a son and his descendants would be more numerous than stars in the sky. After some time Abram tires of waiting for God to work it out and takes matters into his own hands. He sleeps with his servant girl Hagar and she gets pregnant. (This seems strange to us, but was the...